Existing navigation software systems in the field of neurosurgery related, such as
BrainLab's VectorVision®, have a steep learning curve. There is a long-felt need for surgical planning software that reduces complexity and likelihood of individual error.
BrainLab's iPLAN® is diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)—fiber tracking (FT) software that identifies and tracks white matter fibers of the brain and recognizes different fiber bundles, such as commissural/association and projection fibers, and their location in relation to a brain tumor to assist a surgeon with surgical planning The software provides excellent visualization, isolation, and extraction of the desired fiber bundles and is used as a three dimensional navigation system, which is continuously updated during surgery to provide surgical coordinates and their relation to the map of the fiber tracts.
The map of the fiber tracts can significantly alter the surgical approach and can maximize the outcome of the surgery for a patient. However, the prolonged amount of time taken to use the software in preparation for surgery is well known. This drawback discourages its routine use in the cranial surgery despite its obvious advantage and application in improving the surgical outcome.